.... From there the regression into abandoning the teaching of reading to children was rapid. Teaching reading came to be viewed by many to be the act of repeatedly showing children flash cards in an effort to get them to recognize words by rote memorization as opposed to actually reading the words.

Fortunately for my eldest, this had not reached the elementary schools by the mid-90s and she was taught how to read and write. My youngest, though, was met with this like a freight train and the results were comparable with a train wreck. My youngest was a hard-working student, a pretty bright kid, and had no disabilities such as dyslexia+. When I saw what was going on, I approached the teacher, who clearly had been taken in by the smoke and mirrors of this system and was a strong advocate of effectively skipping steps one and two (Learning symbols for sounds (1) and having students apply that knowledge to letters placed together and have them learn to sound them out(2) ). She was, sadly, a very nice and clearly bright individual. In fact, I was more disappointed that this person, who was clearly no dolt, could not have seen that this flash-recognition system not only has no place in the teaching of reading to our youth but that it essentially and utterly ignores the very system that we have and utilize for reading and writing in the first place! Her response was that, with this system, He will learn how to read like that (Snaps her fingers) Well, my kid is in first grade and I dont want him reading in a snap; I want him to learn how to read......

The left attacked student ability to read over 60 years ago with their 'Dick and Jane' series of grade-school text books for first grade students. That assault was quickly identified by my foster mother at the time, who quickly taught me phonics.

Within a few weeks I was reading books well above grade level while my classmates continued to suffer.

Dyslexia is caused by this inane attack on reading ability, which has been proven time and again.

When my own son went to public school I had to step in and teach phonics to rescue him - his dyslexia disappeared soon after - and his reading ability improved to better than grade level.

How odd - I learned to read with the Dick & Jane books when I was four and a half, and was reading on a 12th grade level when I was nine. I attended a small private school - no one I went to school with ever had dyslexia or reading problems of any kind. We also had French reading and grammar starting in first grade, and nobody seemed to have trouble with that either.

My parents had no idea they were teaching me to read. They'd settle me in one lap or another or between them every evening for a story. At the ripe old age of three, I started to recognize words and insist on turning the pages myself. My mother told me years later she assumed I was simply memorizing stories, only to discover I was "sort of like reading" words I recognized. She was so delighted and sure I was a bona fide, qualified, certified little genius, she began to help me "sound out" words I didn't already know. She'd never heard of phonics at that point in her life: simply wanted to verify a hunch. My little sister learned to read the same way at the same age. Many and many years later, she read stories to her grandchildren, and by then was completely unsurprised they, too, learned to read long before starting school.

Given an opportunity and any small measure of encouragement, I believe, any child will painlessly and effortlessly start to read just because it's fun. Phonics beats the socks off word recognition, which shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone: letters represent sounds, and sounds are combined to form words.

It was socialist John Dewey and his despicable inner circle who introduced the whole word method, which made it difficult for 40% of the population to learn to read. They openly admitted they were preventing children from learning to read until third grade or later, not first grade.

Welcome to FR and thanks for an interesting topic. Don’t mind the nit-pickers. It goes with the territory of being a newbie. Haven’t you heard? Conservatives are conspiracy theorists. We suspect everyone. HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)

The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.

23
posted on 11/19/2012 7:43:54 PM PST
by metmom
(For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)

ANOTHER REASON TO HOMESCHOOL

This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)

The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.

24
posted on 11/19/2012 7:45:00 PM PST
by metmom
(For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore & do not submit again to a yoke of slavery)

The linked American Thinker article in the full post quotes a Stanley Hall who in 1911 said this:
“In 1911, G. Stanley Hall, one of John Dewey’s mentors, went so far as to extol illiteracy: “It is possible, despite the stigma our bepedagogued age puts upon this disability, for those who are under it not only to lead a useful, happy, virtuous life, but to be really well-educated in many other ways.”

"I have no complaint if a good conservative blogger posts his own material to FR, not as an excerpt to drive hits and discussion back to his blog, but rather to impart useful information to OUR readers and to promote and join in on the discussion and conservative activism HERE on FR."

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